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Did she?

She was confused right now. He had her brain going around and around in circles until she didn’t know which way was up or down.

“You’re not ready for what I would do,” he told her. “And you know it.”

Yikes.

Was he talking about spankings? He was, wasn’t he?

He stayed silent. It was so hard to argue with someone when they just stopped talking. It was a very annoying quality. Maybe the next time she felt attracted to him, she’d have to remind herself of that quality.

Who are you kidding? There’s never a time that you’re not attracted to him. Even now, you can’t help looking at him and thinking how sexy he is.

Well, that was just another annoying quality of his, wasn’t it? Being sexy and gorgeous.

How dare he.

“I am not going to the doctor. What I am going to do is go to work. Then after work, we can discuss your mail thievery.”

“My mail thievery? It’s only thievery if I steal something, and I haven’t stolen anything. All I did was open your mail.”

“All you did?” she repeated. “That stuff is personal. It’s private. You can’t just go around opening people’s mail and expect them to be all right with it.”

“I didn’t go around opening people’s mail. I opened your mail. And since you’re under my protection and we agreed that I would be in charge, it’s only right that I see everything that is going on in your life.”

Was she even hearing him correctly, or were her ears playing tricks on her? Perhaps she was still asleep. That was it. She was still stuck in this nightmare.

She pinched the skin on the top of her hand.

Shoot. She wasn’t dreaming.

Suddenly, his hand reached out and grabbed hold of hers. “What do you think you are doing?”

Aimee glanced up at him in surprise. “Pinching myself.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I wanted to see if I was dreaming,” she told him. Wasn’t that the standard way anyone checked whether they were dreaming or not?

“You thought you were dreaming?” he asked.

“Well, it was kind of more of a nightmare, if I’m honest. Since when did I agree that you were in charge? Because I really don’t remember doing that. I know I’ve been relying on you for some things. And I probably shouldn’t have been, because I need to learn how to take care of myself. I need to figure out how to not run away from my problems. But that needs to stop now. I am in charge of me. I am responsible for my bills and for dealing with everyone that comes to my door. I appreciate all of your help, I really do. But I’ve got to stand on my own two feet. And, to be honest, I’m not even certain that I agreed to you staying here. I certainly didn’t agree to you opening up all of my mail.”

“Last night we agreed that you need me. The fact that you fainted is proof that you need someone to look out for you, which is exactly what I promised Charlie that I would do. There’s no need for you to do everything yourself when I’m here to help. Starting with getting rid of any stressors in your life. Which includes all of these bills. Why didn’t you tell me you owed so much money?”

“I guess because even I didn’t know.” What was she going to do with him?

He just wouldn’t listen to reason. She didn’t need or want his help.

Liar.

Ammo eyed her. “What do you mean?”

She sighed. She really hadn’t wanted to tell him all of this, it was embarrassing. It made her look like a naive idiot. However, if she didn’t tell him, he was still going to think badly about her anyway, wasn’t he?

“Charlie took out loans and racked up those credit cards without my knowledge. It wasn’t until after he died that I discovered all of this debt.”

“Is that why you started to work three jobs?” he asked.